1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a layout tool for use by carpenters building a stud wall, the layout tool allowing the rapid taking of various standard measurements associated with building a stud wall using either 2×4 or 2×6 inch stud construction.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Building and raising stud walls forms the backbone of a frame carpenter's work description. Even a small house may have a dozen or more stud walls, both interior walls and exteriors wall, which need to be built and erected. As framing carpenters tend to be paid by the job and as, next to the foundation, the framed up walls form the basis upon which the other subcontractors perform their respective tasks, building the stud walls quickly and accurately is one of the goals of the framing carpenter.
The building of a stud wall has two main steps, measuring out the stud wall, and once so measured, building the actual wall and erecting it into place. The measuring process is typically done by the carpenter using a standard tape measure and making various marks along the base plate of the stud wall, the marks signifying the placement of studs, including corners and intersecting walls, to be attached to the base plate. This tried and true method is relatively efficient, however, it is not without problems. Mistakes in making measurements can and do happen, which mistakes can have a relatively high cost to rectify, especially if the mistake is not caught until after the stud wall is erected into place. Mistakes in measurement taking happen for a variety of reasons. For example, a carpenter who is building a 16 inch on center stud wall places the tape measure on the end of the base plate and makes marks every 16 inches by remembering what the various multiples of 16 are. The carpenter, having built countless other walls, instinctively remembers each of these multiples of 16 inches, however, mistakes in memory or calculations can be made, especially if a relatively inexperienced carpenter is performing the measurements or if a particularly long stud wall is being measured. Additionally, mistakes in memory can be made when measuring the stud wall for corner layout, joining corner wall layout, or intersecting wall layout, the mistakes typically being made from improper memory or simply using the wrong basis for the particular measureinent to be made (e.g., measuring out for a 2×4 inch intersecting wall when 2×6 inch construction is being employed). While measurement mistakes do not happen often, especially with an experienced crew, which crew tends to double check each measurement, the mistakes do happen, delaying the job and costing money.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a device that allows a carpenter to be able to make various measurements associated with building a stud wall, which measurements are highly accurate, and which device tends to minimize mistakes made from faulty memory or simple crew inexperience. Such a device must be quick and easy to use and must be relatively compact in size so as to allow a carpenter to be able to easily carry the device from job site to job site. Such a device must give the user a high degree of comfort in the measurements made so that the time-consuming process of rechecking each measurement need not take place.